Live: Dozens killed by Israeli strikes on Beit Lahia in Gaza

The Palestinian health ministry said on Saturday that the death toll in Gaza had reached at least 44,382. 

The ministry added that at least 105,142 Palestinians had also been injured in Israel's military offensive on Gaza since 7 October 2023. 

Israeli forces have arrested more than a dozen Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, according to a prisoner network. 

On Saturday, the Commission of Prisoners' Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner's society said that Israeli forces had arrested at least 16 Palestinians. 

The network said the arrests took place across the governorates of Qalqilya, Nablus, Hebron, Tulkarem and Jerusalem. 

The report added that the number of arrests by Israel of Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since Israel's war on Gaza began has passed 11,900. 

Al Jazeera has reported that an Israeli air raid that targeted a house in the Shujayea area in eastern Gaza City has injured a number of people, and killed a child. 

The Palestinian Information Centre said that a child was killed and a number of people injured in the attack. 

Good evening Middle East Eye readers, 

Israel pounded the Gaza Strip on Friday with heavy strikes reported in Beit Lahia. Palestinian health authorities said the attack killed dozens of people. In addition, at least 19 bodies of Palestinians were pulled from the rubble of building in Nuseirat refugee camp after devastating Israeli strikes, medics told Reuters. 

Meanwhile, a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon appeared to be holding. Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said on Friday that the group would coordinate at a "high level" with the Lebanese army to implement the terms of the deal.

Here are some of the day's other key developments:

• Women and children are scavenging for food among mounds of trash in parts of the Gaza Strip, a UN official said on Friday
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz want Israel's military chief of staff Herzi Halevi to step down by the end of the 60-day Lebanon ceasefire agreement, according to Kan public broadcaster
• Three Palestinians were trampled to death in a stampede at a bakery in the central Gazan city of Deir el-Balah
• A Hamas delegation is set to arrive in Cairo on Saturday for talks with Egyptian officials on a ceasefire
• US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said President-elect Donald Trump wants to see a Gaza hostage deal and ceasefire before he returns to the White House in January.

The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said on Friday that Israel's appeal against arrest warrants issued for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant should be dismissed. 

The chief prosecutor added that the appeal processes should be ended. 

Israel launched raids across the occupied West Bank on Friday. Israeli troops attacked the Wadi al-Hariyya area in the city of Hebron. 

They also raided the village of Yatma, south of the occupied West Bank city of Nablus. Soldiers fired tear gas at civilians who suffocated from the gas.

US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham told Axios that US President-elect Donald Trump wants to see a Gaza hostage deal and ceasefire before he returns to the White House in January.

“Trump is more determined than ever to release the hostages and supports a ceasefire that includes a hostage deal. He wants to see it happening now,” Graham told Axios. 

Graham is a staunch supporter of Israel and a key Trump ally. 

“I want people in Israel and in the region to know that Trump is focused on the hostages issue. He wants the killing to stop and the fighting to end,” he said. 

“I hope President Trump and the Biden administration will work together during the transition period to release the hostages and get a ceasefire," he added. 

At least eight people were killed and several more wounded by an Israeli strike on Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood in Gaza City on Friday. 

Israel has escalated its strikes across Gaza amid a ceasefire in Lebanon. 

Israel earlier attacked Gaza's Beit Lahia refugee camp. 

At least 19 bodies of Palestinians were pulled from the rubble of building in Nuseirat refugee camp after devastating Israeli strikes, medics told Reuters. 

Israeli tanks withdrew from northern areas on the camp on Friday but remained active in its western parts.

The Palestinian civil defence said it was unable to respond to distress calls from residents trapped in their homes.

A slim majority of Israelis are opposed to Israeli settlements in Gaza, with a wide swath of the country undecided, underscoring how advocates of permanently occupying Gaza have scope to gain sway. 

A poll by Israel's Channel 12 news found 51 percent of respondents are against the rebuilding of Israeli settlements in Gaza, with 33 percent in favour and 16 percent undecided.  

The same poll found a shift in support for former prime minister Naftali Bennett against Netanyahu, with 39 percent of respondents favouring the former and 33 percent the latter when asked to decide between the two. 

Israeli settlements are considered illegal under international law, violating Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. 

A Hamas delegation is set to arrive in Cairo on Saturday for talks with Egyptian officials on a ceasefire, Hamas senior official Basem Naim told Reuters.

The visit comes amid reports that Egypt instructed Hamas it has to be more flexible on allowing Israeli troops to remain in Gaza.

The US has said that following the ceasefire in Lebanon it wants to work with Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey to revive talks for a Gaza hostage release and ceasefire. 

At least three Palestinians were trampled to death in a stampede at a bakery in the central Gazan city of Deir el-Balah on Friday, as hungry people rushed for bread.

Two women and "a young girl, died in front of a bakery in Deir al-Balah as a result of a stampede while trying to buy bread", Deir el-Balah's Al-Aqsa hospital said in a statement.

"The crowding and pushing were intense in front of the bakery. Suddenly, there was loud screaming, and they fell to the ground, suffocated by the stampede, including a young girl," one eyewitness told AFP.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz want Israel's military chief of staff Herzi Halevi to step down by the end of the 60-day Lebanon ceasefire agreement, according to Kan public broadcaster. 

Netanyahu and Katz want Halevi to step down over the 7 October Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel, the report said. 

Women and children are scavenging for food among mounds of trash in parts of the Gaza Strip, a UN official said on Friday. 

Ajith Sunghay, head of the UN Human Rights office for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, expressed concern for the rising level of hunger in Gaza. 

"I was particularly alarmed by the prevalence of hunger," Sunghay said. "Acquiring basic necessities has become a daily, dreadful struggle for survival."

Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said on Friday that the group would coordinate at a "high level" with the Lebanese army to implement the terms of a ceasefire with Israel that began two days earlier.

"The coordination between the resistance and the Lebanese army will be at a high level to implement the commitments of the agreement," Qassem said, adding that "no one is betting on problems or disagreements" with the army.